Ten-Minute Blog Break - 2nd December

Christmas rumbles towards us, like a brightly-coloured tank playing Jingle Bells while simultaneously mowing down everything in its path. But the Blog Break stands firm from festive concerns (at least for this week, anyway!)

One of the many challenges of parenting is persuading a reluctant child to read, something that can easily turn into one of those battlegrounds like room tidying or eating broccoli. Sally Poyton is blogging at Space on the Bookshelf about a new book by Alison David, Help your Child Love Reading - a Parent’s Guide. The book is full of non-judgemental advice about how to foster a reading culture, and Sally even finds some useful tips for her own book-mad family.

Katie Dale is putting her thinking cap on, and taking part in the annual Kids' Lit Quiz. Pitting school teams against children's authors, the quiz is a fun and fiendish event that you can read all about in Katie's blog post.

For this week's adventures in self-publishing, Larisa Villar Hauser is delving into the mysteries of Amazon rankings and doing lots of promotion. Meanwhile, Olivia Bright has been experimenting with Amazon's new Kids' Book Creator to self-publish a picture book, and shares a useful how-to video guide on her blog.

Still in picture book territory, Claire O'Brien delivers the second half of her blog guide on creating a picture book illustration portfolio. Bravely analysing her own portfolio, Claire finds a surprising amount of room for improvement.

Who doesn't love receiving feedback from child readers? Sam Zuppardi has some fun letters from a primary school class who've been using his book The Nowhere Box for Literacy lessons, and making some stupendous cardboard collages in the style of the illustrations.

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 14th October

Occasionally, SCBWI bloggers fall through my net, either because they blog at the same time as lots of other people, or don't fit the theme of a particular week. But don't worry, because if you keep blogging, I'll get to you eventually!

A blogger who I've finally found space for is illustrator Claire O'Brien, who's been writing some useful stuff for aspiring picture book makers. Claire's blog post on Creating a children’s picture book illustration portfolio from last week is full of great tips and you may also like the video she made examining picture book anatomy.

Forget fish 'n' chips, because it's fish 'n' actors who are all the rage at Darlington Civic Theatre. Sam Zuppardi breaks out his considerable artistic skills to show us why.

Being a professional children's writer nowadays is a process of juggling many types of project, and few are better jugglers than the prolific Tony Bradman, who's interviewed for Space on the Bookshelf this week. As a writer, editor and teacher, Tony was the first to publish work by Scoobies such as Candy Gourlay and Miriam Halahmy, and he's currently working on an exhausting list of new projects for OUP, Barrington Stoke and the Golden Egg Academy.

Juliet Clare Bell is suffering a creative block - could reading her old school books help? What about a photo of E.T.'s head riding on a car? Find out in her post for Picture Book Den.

Finally, there's just room for some wise words from Sheila Averbuch about the painful business of having a book on submission. Sheila advocates a fire-and-forget approach to submitting your work, assuring us that our precious manuscripts are not sailing off into mortal danger, but are simply "in hyper sleep." In which case, I have enough books in hyper sleep to crew the Nostromo (from Alien). Let's hope one of them turns out to be my very own Ellen Ripley!

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine (September issue out now).

Nick's most recent blog post takes a look back at a year of Stew Magazine stories and teases out the common threads that bind them. What's the Story?

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 16th September

I'm sure I wasn't the only one buoyed up by Jan's super-positive editorial at the weekend. And there certainly is plenty of good stuff out there if you know where to look, as this week's Blog Break once again proves.

Every writer is looking for the golden ticket, an idea which is just so compelling that it will motivate them to do their best work and crack the market wide open. But how can you identify a breakout premise for a picture book? Natascha Biebow has plenty of advice at Picture Book Den.

My drawing of Pilbeam the robot from Cakes in Space

I was at Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve's book launch for Cakes in Space on Saturday, and I can confirm that a very good time was had by all. Amongst the treats on offer were drawing lessons, a new song and interactive video comedy involving sporks(!) But fear not if you couldn't make it, because Sarah has written a blog post with tons of photos from the event.



There's a fantastic interview with Sam Zuppardi on the Scottish Book Trust website this week. I especially liked the anecdote about his childhood biblical confusion!

Candy Gourlay is exploring diaries this week, discussing how they can be used for personal reflection, as creative fodder and as an exercise for author visits. She shares some great tips for keeping a diary, and lets us have a peek at the diaries the kids made in response.

Finally, I found a lot of food for thought this week in Marie Basting's blog post all about embracing the dark side of her creative personality. It set me wondering as to why it is that we become compelled to write certain stories, even when we're trying to do something quite different. That led me to my own post a few days later, all about a character that I just can't stop writing about.

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine (September issue out now).

Nick's most recent blog post (mentioned above) traces The Evolution of Max.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 5th August

A big thanks to Philippa for holding the fort so expertly last week.
I'm just back from holiday and still catching up on stuff, but I've prioritised the two most important activities - booking my place at the November Conference and writing this!

The SCBWI Picture Book Retreat seems to have triggered a massive burst of creativity, inspiring three very different blog posts. Sue Eves gives some nifty advice on making mini books and talks about her adventures with colour. Candy Gourlay finds that time spent with illustrators gives her sudden insight into her writing. And Sarah Broadley? Well, she's written a poem all about the weekend.

Space on the Bookshelf are moving away from traditional books this summer, to focus on some alternative routes to literacy. Their WOW! series promises to celebrate children’s comics, magazines and graphic novels.

Katie Dale is also taking a sideways look at her bookshelf, trying not to judge a book by its cover. There are many wonderful stories out there, which you might never spot if you went by their blurb or their position in the book store. Why not take up Katie's challenge to go Discovering Diamonds?

The ever-busy Sam Zuppardi has contributed an illustrated story to a new music-themed anthology comic called Radio On from indie publisher The Analogue Press. Sam shares a page of his story on his blog, and you can get your own copy of the comic by contributing to the publisher's Kickstarter campaign.

Sarah McIntyre has (of course) written loads of blog posts while I've been away! I particularly liked this one about the American inspirations for her Oliver and the Seawigs drawings, and these very silly unicorns inspired by her Summer Reading Challenge.

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick's most recent blog post is a guide to writing flash fiction, to celebrate the latest issue of Stew!

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 29th July

Hello there - a new voice on your Ten-Minute Blog break this week: Nick Cross has mysteriously transmogrified into a Yorkshire lass. The blog posts that caught my imagination all feature creativity - an essential for all of us.



First off, I present to you the joyous colours of the Dream Football Kits featured on Dave Cousin's blog. Young people are so free with their design work. Someone really should make these.

I suggest you follow this with Layn Marlow's visit to the Pencil Museum - it's full of unexpected uses for pencils, cake and splendid vocabulary for us not-professional-artists. Unsurprisingly, some pretty cool images too.

Then have a look at how illustrator  Heather Kilgour has speeded up her work - only to find new outlets for her creativity - or possibly a smidge of procrastination? I love how the layers all work - but combine to make something so intense - like the best writing.

Sam Zuppardi certainly used his time creatively at Scarcroft School - I hope you enjoy his results as much as I did [and get the reference to one of the best school tales ever written].

Finally - and before you think I am an illustrator manquée - read our own Nick Cross's piece on Writing Flash Fiction. It's a practical guide to using up all those scraps and offcuts of creative ideas we writers have stashed away.

Now inspired by all these ideas, I'd better get on on with creating myself . Nick will be back next week.
Philippa

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K. M. Lockwood is a writing name of Philippa R. Francis. As well as being a regular contributor, Philippa (@lockwoodwriter) is also part of the Words & Pictures team as the @Words8Pictures Tweetmaster, growing our following and maintaining our 'Industry news' feed.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 1st July

The Bunker Diary has been very much in the news this week. I knew that my teenage daughter had read the book and disliked it, so I asked her why. I expected a reply that cited the darkness and brutality of the story, but instead she said: "The character arcs were too flat."
I guess this is what comes of having a writer and a librarian as parents!

Nicola Morgan has written an eloquent post that aims to sidestep the Bunker Diary controversy and focus on why we shouldn't fear bleak books for teenagers. Ewa Jozefkowicz also finds inspiration from the book in her blog post considering the nature of happy endings.

Space on the Bookshelf seem to be sneaking into this column rather regularly of late. This time, their appearance is because of another informative award round-up, analysing the non-fiction shortlist for the Booktrust Best Book Awards. Children's non-fiction doesn't always get the coverage it deserves, so it's good to see awards like this celebrating it.

My wife has been pestering me for literally years to visit the Keswick pencil museum - to the extent that I've renamed it "Chessington World of Pencils" and turned it into a family joke. But Layn Marlow has no such prejudices; as a self-proclaimed "pencil nerd", she's blogged about her visit to the museum, and may even have managed to change my mind!

Everywhere I look - either at home or at work - there are stacks and stacks of books. But it hasn't always been that way, and I enjoyed Miriam Halahmy's reminiscences for The Edge, about a childhood where books were in rather short supply, and how she grew to cherish the few that she owned.

Finally, Sam Zuppardi often posts a weekly illustration, but this week he chooses to pair it with a lovely piece of observational storytelling. Read all about The Bubble Man.

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick really should write another blog post, but until then, you can enjoy his recent fairy tale on the "dangers" of fairy tales: The Improbable Prince.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 20th May

What do video games, viruses and vampires have in common (well, apart from the obvious alliteration)?

They all make an appearance on the Blog Break this week!


My prediction that the Writing Process Blog Tour would die off when it ran out of writers to consume has been proved wrong. Like a fiendishly clever virus, it has mutated and this week's victims are all writer/illustrators. Katherine Lynas talks about her work with the funeverse, before handing over to Sam Zuppardi, who has some interesting advice on how to manage and grow ideas. Paul Morton then picks up the baton - giving us a sneak peek at couple of picture books he's working on - and hands it on to current Words & Pictures featured artist Jamie Stevenson. Anyone who is only an illustrator is advised to turn off their internet connection right now, before the blog tour can mutate further. You have been warned!

I really liked the discussion guide that Candy Gourlay has built for readers of Shine. I found her questions on the book thought-provoking, and tried not to be too annoyed that her novel seemed so thematically complex and cleverly constructed. I'm thinking of starting a petition requesting that Candy gives us other children's writers a chance, by making her next book very generic and full of dumb action scenes *

This week, we find out why Lorraine Gregory hasn't blogged for ages - she's been playing too many video games. Oh wait, that's not the reason - it's because her "brain has been exploding" from all the intensive help she's been getting on her manuscript from those nice people at the Golden Egg Academy. Find out from Lorraine why getting better as a writer is a lot like leveling up in a video game.

Thirty years ago, I was still drawing misshapen pictures of Dennis the Menace. John Shelley, on the other hand, was creating beautiful pen and ink illustrations for the novel A Canoe in the Mist by Elsie Locke. His blog post all about the book is like opening a treasure trove and I was entranced by John's drawings and the story behind their creation.

Nick.

* Not really. Well, unless she really wants to. Mind you, that version of Shine with the vampires did sound pretty cool...

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine, the May issue of which is out now!

Zuppardi’s cooking up a storm!

Words and Pictures is thrilled to welcome back Sam Zuppardi to the celebrations page! Sam, the illustrator of the middle grade series ‘The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe' and the picture book, 'The Nowhere Box,' is back with the second book in Gordon McAlpine’s trilogy and a new and interesting illustrated venture.





May sees the release of ‘Stormy Weather’ - a board game of mad science, weather control and gardening with art and design by our very own talented SCBWI comrade.

Stormy weather is a board game for 2-players, which is launching on Kickstarter this month. It's about mad scientists who go head-to-head to control the weather in ever more chaotic ways in a bid to win a gardening competition.

Sam tells us more about it;

“Stormy Weather tells the story of two scientists who have had enough of holding the world to ransom. They just want quiet relaxation - a spot of light gardening in one of the prettiest villages in Transylvania. All was going well, until they both learnt that the Transylvania in Bloom trophy was only a few weeks off, and now both are determined to prove themselves the greatest gardener in the village. There's only one way to settle this - SCIENCE!!!”

Featuring wellington boots, weather machines, and psychopathic birds, to find out more about Stormy Weather, visit www.stormyweathergame.com, where you can also find the instructions on how to get a print-and-play trial version.

“For those of you that haven't heard of kick starter, the more people who sign up for a copy, the closer the dream is to a reality. This project will only be funded if at least £12,500 is raised. Time is limited, you have until 7 2014 3:57 PM to pledge. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1719645886/stormy-weatherhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1719645886/stormy-weather.”.”

Not that we needed a second excuse to bring out the cake, but 'Upon a Midnight Eerie: Book 2 of The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe' by McAlpine is out now, illustrated by Sam. It's the second book in a trilogy, 'Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe' published by Viking Children's Books and it involves the further adventures of the Poe twins, the great great great grand-nephews of Edgar Allan Poe. This one is set in New Orleans and features ghosts and pirate treasure!

Sam lives in York, where he likes to draw and create stories. To find out more about Sam and his works please have a browse of the site www.samzuppardi.com.

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Clare Welsh joined SCBWI in February 2013 after her marriage to her lovely husband James was under threat from constant chunterings, questions and readings aloud over the football. She is thoroughly enjoying all that SCBWI has to offer, including helping Tania celebrating SCBWI successes, and is pleased that her marriage is still firmly intact.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 29th April

What does it take to get a book published? Is it simply a matter of persistence and luck? Can we writers/illustrators influence the process at all, or should we just get out of the way and let the gatekeepers decide?


These are the questions that the first of today's Blog Break selections had me pondering. Mike Brownlow's Ten Little Pirates has been a great success, yet it came very close to not happening at all. Mike's candid and fascinating article is the first of two great posts from Picture Book Den this week. The second comes from our Regional Adviser Natascha Biebow, who shows us Ten Really Cool Picture Book Openings.

Sam Zuppardi is pursuing a rather different project than children's books at the moment, illustrating the pieces for a board game called Stormy Weather. It looks like a lot of fun, and in an attempt to get you to stump up for the Kickstarter campaign, Sam has been posting his illustrations of various weather-controlling machines. Check out The Light Sharpener, The Thunderiser and The Solar Wind Tunnel.

I mentioned Patrons of Reading last week, and Jane McLoughlin has just become one! Her first duty for Kincorth Academy in Aberdeen has been to write the foreword for an anthology of pupils' work, and she shares those inspiring words on her blog.

The writing process blog tour is unstoppable. It cannot be stopped, I tell you, until it has consumed every creative person with a Blogger or Wordpress account! This week's poor unsuspecting innocents are Maureen Lynas, K.M. Lockwood and (making his Blog Break debut) James Nicol. Thankfully, someone had the good sense to tag Mark Jones, who tries his best to make the blog tour implode by writing his entire entry in the persona of a "crazy mutant shrub."

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick's life as an author is filled with ups and downs, so he made a graph of them! Ride The Roller Coaster of Writerly Emotion.

Let's celebrate with The Nowhere Box and a Perfect Prig!

This week, as we welcome in the Chinese Year of the Horse, we take a pause in our feasting to toast two debut picture book author-illustrators, Sam Zuppardi and Julie-Anne Graham. 

First, a huge hip hooray! to Sam Zuppardi, whose debut picture book The Nowhere Box was published in the US and UK on 12th November, by Candlewick Press and Walker. 

The Nowhere Box: George's little brothers wreck his toys and his games and trail after him wherever he goes. Try as he might, there's just no hiding from them. George has had enough! So he commandeers an empty washing-machine box and goes to the one place his brothers can't follow: Nowhere. Nowhere is amazing! It's magnificent! It's also, however, free of pirates and dragons and ... well, anyone at all. 

Sam Zuppardi used to draw pictures at school when he was supposed to be doing work. Since then he’s worked in a book warehouse, as a student, as a nursery worker, a bookshop assistant, a toyshop assistant and a care worker. At the moment he works with children. He still draws pictures. He is the illustrator of the middle grade series The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe. His debut picture book The Nowhere Box was inspired by an enduring childhood love for hide-and-seek. And cardboard boxes. He lives in York, England. Visit his website at www.samzuppardi.com. 

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@Ja_illustrator

Congratulations also go to Julie-Anne Graham, who has just scored a publishing deal with The Perfect Percival Priggs. Lisa Cheng at Running Press Kids has bought author-illustrator Julie-Anne's debut picture book. It's about a boy who is perfect in every possible way – but when his aunt comes to town, she uncovers what is hidden behind his perfect smile. It's pitched as a young Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory meets Tim Burton and publication is set for spring 2015. Kathleen Ortiz at New Leaf Literary & Media brokered the deal.

Julie-Anne is currently studying an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. She has a background in fashion and her love of fabrics comes across in her illustrations. In 2013 she was Highly Commended for The Perfect Percival Priggs in the Macmillan Prize for Children's Book Illustration. Her work will be on display at the CSA graduation exhibition, Candid Gallery, 5 Torrens Street, London, from 11th-15th February.

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Tania Tay is an ex-advertising copywriter and has been published in Sable LitMag. She is currently writing a YA romantic thriller, has just joined The Golden Egg Academy and is on the editorial team at Words & Pictures.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 21st January

Here I am again, although it may seem like I never went away ;-)

Do excuse my overexposure - I promise to (mostly) shut up about me and get on with the business of highlighting your fine blogs!


The Edge's salute to librarians finishes its six week run with an interview with Matt Imrie, who may be familiar to Scoobies from his appearance at various events including the conference. Matt's Lego Han Solo doesn't make an appearance, sadly, but you can always follow his adventures on Twitter instead.

Lego Han Solo is confused by
Sara Grant's Half Lives covers!

Sally Poyton has some great news for us, as she reaches the Times Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition Longlist for the second year in a row. You go, Sally!

Sam Zuppardi taps into something I've often sought inspiration from myself - unusual place names on road signs (I remember creating a pair of mismatched detectives called Poyle and Datchet after one too many trips to Heathrow Airport). Check out Sam's blog to see the drawings he's made depicting two unlikely characters called Burnt Yates and Bishop Thornton.

Writers seem to differ widely as to how many How To Write books they have. Some have whole bookshelves full, and others (like me) only have one or two. In an entertaining and perceptive post on Notes from the Slushpile, Candy Gourlay talks about her author's journey through various How To books, and tells us which ones she found too early or too late!

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead and currently writes short fiction for Stew Magazine, an event that was recently celebrated on this site.

11th December - Sam Zuppardi

#W8PAdvent

 See the whole image and the growing Advent Gallery here.

samzuppardi.com

Do you have a Tweetable micro story for

Sam's illustration?

Post it in the comments and we'll tweet it with #W8PAdvent and your Twitter handle

Don't forget to allow for the # and the @

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Ten-Minute Blog Break - 10th December

It's been a roller-coaster few days for people waiting for Undiscovered Voices results - well done to everyone who entered, whether you made the longlist or not. On the SCBWI blogosphere, it was good to see that there were plenty of other things to talk about!

Candy Gourlay (lest we forget, a UV winner herself) sneaked out a terrific blog post on multicultural children's writing. This is the kind of subject that could easily be worthy yet dull, but Candy brings a personal perspective to the issue along with some startling statistics. She also adds some reviews of books with multicultural characters, for readers to explore.

I love to see the process behind things, and that goes double for illustrations, because I can't really do them myself. So I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at Sam Zuppardi's new picture book The Nowhere Box at the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog (great name!)

What makes a poem stick in the memory? Mo O'Hara's blogging at The Funeverse, with a mildly scientific look at the phenomenon. Is learning a poem "by heart" a rote activity, or does the verse have to engage our emotions before it really takes root?

Where would we be without librarians? The Edge certainly think they're pretty important, and are devoting the next few weeks of blog space to Q&A posts by librarians. First up is Ingrid Broomfield from Nottingham Girls' High.

Finally, I must thank Sarah McIntyre for alerting me to something happening in my own office! Her Sea Monkey Work Experience post from last week details the daily misadventures of a character from her Oliver and the Seawigs book, who is "helping out" at Oxford University Press. The chaos has continued since then on Twitter, and I particularly liked Clare Whitston's reaction to the monkey's manuscript amendments:

Rumour has it that the lively little chap may even be paying me a visit later this week - let's hope he's on his best behaviour!

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead and currently writes short fiction for Stew Magazine.

This week on his blog, Nick considers the question: Is My Art Better Then Yours?

Ten-Minute Blog Break & Conference Blog Challenge!

Before I start this week's Blog Break, I'm pleased to announce something a little special for next week, the Conference Blog Challenge!
Read on for details of how you can get involved...


During or following the SCBWI British Isles conference this coming weekend, I'd like as many of our SCBWI bloggers as possible to write a short post with the title:

I Love the SCBWI-BI Conference Because...

I always come out of the conference buzzing, and I know I'm not the only one. It would be great to harness that energy for a super-special Blog Break next Tuesday.

Once you've written your post, please email me a link at:
whoatemybrain-conference@yahoo.com with the subject:
"Conference Blog Challenge" by 9pm Monday 25th November.
I will include every SCBWI member who emails me in next week's Blog Break post.

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OK, back to our usual programming. A subject that's been very much on our bloggers' minds this week is the terrible devastation in the Philippines. Many, many talented people have banded together to present the amazing Authors for the Philippines auction site. You could win an author visit from Teri Terry, a picture book critique by Sarah McIntyre, signed books and an exclusive CD by Dave Cousins, or even a character named after you in Liz de Jager's final Blackhart Legacy book. Frankly, I could go on and on - there are over 450 lots on offer at the time of writing. But get in quick - the auction closes at 8pm GMT on Wednesday 20th November.

Sam Zuppardi shared an awesome trailer for his forthcoming picture book The Nowhere Box. Sam's art looks even more fabulous when animated, and the trailer is a textbook example of how to build anticipation for a book without giving away everything that happens.

What do guinea pigs do online? Predictably, they get into trouble, while also imparting a useful lesson about internet safety for younger children. Sally Poyton reviews Guinea Pigs Online over at Space on the Bookshelf.

Finally, we've heard all about what authors can offer when they get together for charity, but on a more prosaic level, Sara Grant asks What Do Authors Owe Their Readers? Prompted by the vociferous response to Veronica Roth's Allegiant, Sara analyses the changing relationship between writer and audience, and answers the question for herself. Check out the blog post and see if you agree.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.

Nick didn't write a blog post this week and now finds he has this big area to fill but nothing much to put in it.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 29th October

Last week, I complained about there being too many good blog posts to choose from, and yet this week there are even more! Now, I'm not going to say you should write bad posts, but you're making my life difficult here, folks ;-)

Dave Cousins is popping up all over the place, thanks to ... erm ... Pop Up. That's the London Pop Up organisation (famous for their festival) who also run a project called Booklinks, which encourages children to study a book in detail and then meet the author. Dave blogs all about it and shares some great film posters that the kids made, promoting their very own production of Dave's 15 Days Without a Head.

Sam Zuppardi's been scrawlcrawling around York Minster this week, and trying to solve the problem of scale. Can you draw a picture that captures the immense majesty of such a building, or is it better to focus on the more intimate details?

Another binary question is vexing Sue Hyams: Setting or Characters – Which Comes First? I'm not spoiling anything by revealing that Sue prioritises setting in her stories, but the comments on her post demonstrate what a range of different approaches we all take.

Certainly the noisiest blog of the week comes from the inimitable George Kirk via The FunEverse. George is exploring rhythm in poetry, and her post is a multimedia extravaganza that takes you right to the beating heart of children's verse.

If you missed Sara O'Connor's SCBWI Middle Grade Masterclass at the weekend, panic not. Lorraine Gregory has a terrifically in-depth post all about it!

Finally, check out John Shelley's blog for a view inside the fascinating production of his latest book, Stone Giant. The book is, in itself, a "making of", as John and writer Jane Sutcliffe recreate the creation of Michelangelo's David, a job that required a huge amount of research and educated guesswork to depict Renaissance Florence as it would have appeared to the artist. Great stuff.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.

This week on his blog, Nick is linking into Words & Pictures' Diversity theme, and discussing how a colleague's bravery challenged his preconceptions about transgendered people. Read about A Life in Transition.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 23rd July

I'm sure I can't be the only one wilting from all this heat, but our SCBWI bloggers march on regardless.
Grab a tall glass of iced tea and let's see what blog-sized treats are on the plate this week.


Despite living in the same town as ace indie bookshop Mostly Books, I’m a little ashamed to admit that I completely missed their recent special event, in which three Nosy Crow authors took over the running of the shop for the day! SCBWI writers Paula Harrison and Helen Peters joined Fleur Hitchcock to staff the shop, as well as answering all manner of questions from budding young writers and journalists. Sally Poyton tells us all about the event at Space on the Bookshelf.

Mark Jones returns to his Amazing Writing Advice column, after an unexpected break. But was the lay-off really because he was sued for publishing someone else’s book without their permission and did he actually take matters into his own hands in such a drastic fashion? You’ll have to read the post and make up your own mind...

Taking the idea of the Silly Season a step further are the bloggers at Notes from the Slushpile, who are having an, erm, Slushpile Silly Season. So far, Addy Farmer has blogged about silly character names via PG Wodehouse and Books With a Letter Missing. Have you read The Lion, the Itch and the Wardrobe?

Illustrators will get a kick out of Katriona Chapman’s post at Big Little Tales, detailing her technique for colourising pencil drawings using Photoshop. Sam Zuppardi’s brother won’t be getting a kick out of anything for a while though, especially when he sees the get well card that Sam sent him showing his broken leg. Yuck!

I'll be taking next week off to go on holiday (I know, what a shocking dereliction of duty), so the Blog Break will have a very special guest editor! Until then, happy reading and happy blogging.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
For his latest blog post, Nick is Desperately Seeking Symmetry with the help of Sara Grant's Half Lives.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 25th June

I blogged last Friday about how I was having a bit of a struggle to keep coming up with new ideas for blog posts, but I'm glad to report that the rest of our SCBWI bloggers seem to be doing just fine!



Nicky Schmidt has been pretty quiet (by her standards) in recent months, but last week she unleashed two new articles in the same day - one on here about author brands and the other on her own blog. The latter post is a typically idiosyncratic take on the world of social networking and the need (or otherwise) to build an "author platform". As ever, Nicky's advice is refreshingly direct and pretty much boils down to "shut up and write the damned book".

Taking a writer (and a subject) close to my own heart, Space on the Bookshelf have a very special interview with Charlie Higson. Charlie talks boys' books, Young Bond and of course zombies!

Sam Zuppardi's blog posts are often very short illustration pieces, so I was pleased to see him talking at more length this week about his creative process. In presenting his sketch of a baby in a hat, Sam discusses the pros of cons of spontaneity in drawing and how he sometimes struggles to capture the spirit of his rough efforts in his finished drawings.

The award for bonkers post of the week must go to Meagan Monroe of The funeverse, whose invitation to go on an "imagination journey" is one you should accept forthwith. I think Meagan's blog post might actually be intended for children, but don't let that get in the way of your enjoyment as her hated maths teacher is carried away by a vampire bat (in lurid Technicolor).

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
Read Nick's latest blog post, in which he's all out of ideas for blog posts! How can writers keep the ideas flowing when they're Running on Empty?

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 11th June

I seem to constantly begin this column by saying what a terrific week it's been for SCBWI blogging, but it's true! I'm pleased that the warm weather hasn't deterred our writers and illustrators from creating some fascinating and heartfelt blog posts.


We haven't heard much from Chitra Soundar on the Blog Break so far, but I'm very pleased to include her post on making the most out of attending a conference. It's such a thorough list of advice that it might be nice to make it "sticky" somewhere, for people to refer to ahead of the next SCBWI British Isles conference in November. Actually, the only problem I have with her post is how much of the advice I don't generally follow when I go to a conference - maybe it's time to get organised...

There are some cracking posts by and for illustrators this week. Heather Kilgour is exploring the world of animation on Big Little Tales and showcases her results, asking you to vote for your favourite. Bridget Strevens-Marzo has recorded an amazing display of children's paintings and collages which attempt to answer the question "what is creativity?" Meanwhile, John Shelley shares a beautiful image he's drawn to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of the Grimm Brother's Household Tales. And what's this on Sam Zuppardi's blog? Jack's giving his baby sister away to the goblins? Oh, how dastardly!

I didn't have room to cover Space on the Bookshelf's Carnegie shortlist special last month, but it's still on the site if you missed it. While you're there, you can enter their Carnegie Giveaway and also visit their latest post: a review of the first book in SCBWI author Paula Harrison's new middle grade series Faerie Tribes - as seen from both an adult and a child's perspective.

Finally, guest post of the week is by Sam Hepburn over at the edge. Sam weaves a story of lost photographs, racial identity and KGB conspiracy that inspired her new Chicken House novel Chasing the Dark.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
Read Nick's latest post, in which he examines the changing role of the blog and questions whether he's written just Another Disposable Blog Post.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 4th June

When Jan posted at the weekend that we hadn't missed a day on Words & Pictures yet, I instantly began to worry that it would be me who left us without content for 24 hours! Luckily, you've all been blogging up a storm as usual...


Rosie Best is still skulking around and still blogging (though she will have to work on her post titles). In the catchily named Things and Stuff #4, Rosie serves up a couple of great links that delve into the reasons behind John Green's recent success, talks about her appearance on The One Show, shows us some awesome nail varnish and points us towards a cool webcomic. Actually, I don't know what title would have linked all that together, though maybe you could suggest one in the comments section.

On the Demention blog, Claire Merle discusses false starts and the slightly mysterious process that is Finding Your Voice. As Claire says, "There’s nothing more magical than running after a story, trying to keep up with it, rather than pulling it along behind you" and she gives some tips to help writers achieve that state of bliss.

Meanwhile, over at the edge, Sara Grant is revisiting her youth, but with an eye to the future. How, her blog asks, can writers keep up with the youth of today when the teenage world evolves and changes at such an accelerated rate? (Readers are warned that part of the answer involves going to a One Direction concert). The blog also features a photo of Sara from 1986 that suggests she used to be a part-time fire-fighter and always looked much cooler than me, even back then.

Sneaking in as a late addition, is Emma Greenwood's wonderfully indiscreet post on Notes from the Slushpile. Emma compares Imogen Cooper to Steve Irwin, talks about nipples on a polite blog and generally gives some fine advice about not holding your characters to the same moral standards you might wish to follow. Sadly for me, it seems that Emma was also a much, much cooler teenager than I was.

There's usually nothing worse than having to sit through a slideshow of other people's holiday snaps, but over at Big Little Tales, Katriona Chapman shares some evocative sketches from her Scottish jaunt that are well worth checking out. Sam Zuppardi isn't sharing any illustrations this week, but he has just been inducted into an online database for authors and illustrators with unusual surnames. Who knew?

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
Read Nick's latest blog post, in which he talks about The Book as Object, and how its role is changing in the digital age.

What Are They Drinking in the North East?

Something is afoot up North - this week we have inspirational stories from Kate Pankhurst and Rebecca Colby and Sam Zuppardi and guess where they're all from?
 

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Sam Zuppardi

North East member Sam Zuppardi will be illustrating a new picture book by David Elliot Nobody's Perfect due for publication in 2015 by Candlewick in the US. Sam is particularly pleased Candlewick requested him as he’s also working with them as author/illustrator of his own book The Nowhere Box due for publication this November! 
 Sam is also illustrating the middle grade series The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe by Gordon McAlpine published by Viking/Penguin 

I think Sam's pencils are going to be busy for quite  while!

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Kate Pankhurst, another regular at SCBWI North East meetings, has worked as a children’s

Kate Pankhurst
@kateisdrawing

book illustrator for over ten years. Since she graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in 2002 she’s illustrated many books for other authors about bogeys, pirates and puppies – including the inside illustrations for our very own Steve Hartley’s Danny Baker Record Breaker series.

I am thrilled to announce that Kate has a new project of her own - a brand new series for 7+ published by Orion Children’s Books about a determined girl detective – Mariella Mystery Investigates. 
The Ghostly Guinea Pig and A Cupcake Conundrum were published this April and The Huge Hair Scare is due to be released in October . Much of Kate’s work happens from her home studio in Leeds, with her Dalmatian (Olive). Kate also works with schools, libraries and children, running creative sessions to inspire ideas for stories and characters and for some strange reason she has an ever increasing collection of fake moustaches…

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Rebecca Colby
@amscribbler

And there’s another North East member to toast this week, Rebecca Colby has sold another picture book, this time to Floris Books Kelpies imprint. There Was A Wee Lassie Who Swallowed A Midgie , is a rollicking Scottish version of the classic tale There was an Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly.

 Knowing Rebecca’s flair for rhythm and rhyme – she’s a founder member of The FunEverse, I just know this is going to be a wonderful read aloud book. Well done Rebecca!

 There must be something in that North East water…. 


Don't forget to mail me your news celebrations@britishscbwi.org. Submission guidelines are in our FAQ section

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Kathy Evans is Celebrations Editor for Words & Pictures. She is South East Network Coordinator with Mariam Vossough and is represented by Sophie Hicks at Ed Victor.